Grass catchers for lawn mowers are known as such in the prior art. One type of such grass catchers is made of rigid bodies as disclosed, for example, in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,399,647. However, in addition to being relatively costly to manufacture, they are relatively heavy, cannot be replaced in case of wear or damage to only a part, for example, by obstructions encountered during mowing, and are more likely to cause turf gouging. Additionally, they represent a relatively large volume requiring a large amount of space for shipping and storing. To avoid the space problems, a grass catcher enabling a knock-down condition has already been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,250,698. However, this type of grass catcher still entails the disadvantages mentioned hereinabove.
Another type of grass catcher construction utilizes a frame over which a flexible bag made, for example, of nylon is mounted. A typical grass catcher of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,214,424 in which the catcher is attached to a back plate, itself securely mounted on the mower deck.
The present invention is concerned with a grass catcher that permits the use of an extraordinarily simple frame structure, yet avoids the problem of large space requirements for shipping and storage. More specifically, the present invention relates to the type of frame structure supporting thereon a nylon basket, which consists of a top frame, of a front frame adapted to be attached to a back plate and extending at right angle to the top frame as well as of lateral frame members acting as struts and connecting the lower end of the front frame with the rear end of the top frame. This type of frame, which is normally made of welded-together round rod material, is extraordinarily simple, permits suspension of the basket in a floating-like manner and is relatively lightweight. Additionally, its readily detachable connection with the back plate permits ease of emptying out of the grass catcher when filled with mown grass. The prior art frame constructions consisted of rigid frames welded together so that the external dimensions were determined by the areas of the top frame and the front frame. The resulting space requirement for shipping and storing was therefore relatively large.
The present invention overcomes the pre-existing drawbacks of the prior art frame constructions by providing a foldable frame construction so that the entire grass catcher shipping package requires only a height of about seven inches.
The underlying problems are solved according to the present invention in that the top frame and front frame are pivotally connected with one another and the lateral frame members are pivotally connected with the front frame so that the entire frame structure can be folded together into a more or less flat configuration. By the use of suitably configured lateral frame members, however, the frame structure can be readily assembled in a simple manner by the end user by threadably connecting the free ends of the lateral frame members to the rear area of the top frame, provided for that purpose with suitable threaded gusset-like plates welded in place between two frame members.
Hingedly connected frames are known for grass catchers, as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,175,603. However, the hingedly connected frame of this patent, which can assume either a rectangular position or a flat position is for entirely different purposes. The U.S. Pat. No. 3,732,675 also discloses an arrangement providing a collapsed position which, however, is for a different type of frame structure and achieved by different means.
The present invention thus provides significant improvements in handling and storing grass catchers by the use of a frame structure, known as such in the art, in which the top and front frame are hingedly connected with each other, and the lateral frame members are hingedly connected to the sides of the front frame so that the entire frame structure can be folded together into a relatively flat package for shipment and storage.